It is pretty amazing that even though the Philadelphia 76ers went on a 26-game losing streak, the Milwaukee Bucks still finished with the worst record in the NBA. That’s some mighty impressive tanking. With the franchise being sold for a cool $550 million, new ownership has their work cut out for them in trying to once again make Milwaukee a relevant NBA team. Having the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft should certainly help their cause.
Here is a look at the Milwaukee Bucks off-season needs.
Milwaukee Bucks (15-67 last year)
2014-15 Projected Depth Chart:
C: Zaza Pachulia/Larry Sanders/Miroslav Raduljca
PF: Ersan Ilyasova/John Henson
SF: Khris Middleton/Giannis Antetokounmpo/Carlos Delfino/*Chris Wright
SG: O.J. Mayo
PG: Brandon Knight/Nate Wolters
NBA Free Agents:
PG-Ramon Sessions (UFA)
PF-Ekpe Udoh (UFA)
PF-Jeff Adrien (UFA)
*SF-Chris Wright (TO)
2014-15 Team Salary: approximately $43.9 million
Team Needs:
1. Franchise Player:
As solid a season as Brandon Knight had, he is by no means a franchise player. Giannis Antetokounmpo showed flashes during his rookie year but is still a few years away from reaching his potential. Other than that, the Bucks are sorely needing a face of the franchise.
Since no marquee free agent will want to come to Milwaukee this off-season, the Bucks will rely on the draft to hopefully fill this void. With the second overall pick, Milwaukee will land a potential star in the making whether it is Duke’s Jabari Parker, or Andrew Wiggins or Joel Embiid of Kansas. The team needs a new shot of life and landing one of those three guys would provide some optimism moving forward.
2. Shooting Guard:
Injuries and tanking played a big part in the Bucks finishing 28th in the league in scoring. So did the lack of scoring on the wing. Milwaukee signed O.J. Mayo last summer to plug that hole but he had the worst season of his NBA career and found himself in the doghouse for much of the season while Carlos Delfino missed the entire year due to injury. With approximately $20 million in cap space this off-season, Milwaukee should focus on finding a running mate for Knight who can help the Bucks become a more dangerous offensive team.
3. Get Sanders Right:
After receiving a 4-year, $44 million extension last summer, Larry Sanders thanked the Bucks by getting himself into some impressive off-the-court trouble. First, there was a fight at a Milwaukee night club in which Sanders injured his thumb that forced him to miss nearly two months of the season. That was just the tip of the iceberg. As the season progressed, Sanders was also cited for animal cruelty, got into a dispute with former teammate Gary Neal, suffered a season ending fractured orbital, and tested positive for marijuana use. Think the Bucks immediately regret their decision to sign Sanders to a lengthy, expensive extension?
The Milwaukee Bucks are stuck with Sanders. He carries practically zero trade value and no team would entertain the thought of acquiring him after this past season when he is still owed all that guaranteed money. Sanders needs to return to his 2012-13 form when he was the anchor of the Bucks defense and become more of a threat offensively for the Bucks to start to turn the corner.
4. Franchise Stability:
Long-time owner Herb Kohl has agreed to sell the team but the franchise remains in limbo until the papers are signed. New ownership could mean a shuffling of the front office which might not bode well for general manager, John Hammond or head coach, Larry Drew. The sooner this all gets figured out, the better. Until then, at least we have Mallory Edens, the owner’s daughter, to focus on.
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.